News

On the Mount Rushmore of great American actors — specifically those who emerged in the late 1960s and brought a transformative, bone-deep intensity to their craft over the industry-redefining decade that followed — four faces loom large: Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.

The eldest of that contingent, Hackman is less familiar to young audiences than the others, having withdrawn from acting more than 20 years ago, in order to write and paint in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over an four-decade screen career, the stage-trained star gravitated to complex movies for grown-up audiences (the only significant exception being his iconic turn as Lex Luthor in the “Superman” franchise), and might have been entirely forgotten by Gen Z, if not for his performance as the gruff patriarch in Wes Anderson’s cult favorite “The Royal Tenenbaums.”

Hackman’s unexpected and unusual death (he was discovered alongside his wife and dog) offers...

For the first time since they introduced the In Memoriam segment, the Academy Awards is giving us a reason to tune in: the 2025 Oscars host is Conan O’Brien.

Yes, we have high hopes for the former late-night comedian who brings at least a small chance of talking about butthole gerbils before an audience of self-congratulating millionaires. Certainly, O’Brien doesn’t need our advice for mastering his first-ever time hosting the Academy Awards, but if he did want to take inspiration from anyone, he should look to the King of Late Night himself: Johnny Carson.

Carson hosted the Academy Awards five times — and nearly back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back — in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Many of his jokes have remained fairly relevant, too. Exhibit A: When he greeted his celebrity audience in 1979 with, “I see a lot of new faces — especially on the old faces.”

However, given the standard topicality of the Academy Awards,...

The most Oscar-nominated film this season is Emilia Pérez, which is entirely in Spanish. It landed 13 noms — smashing the record for a non-English-language film (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma had 10 each) and just one shy of the record for any film — including best picture. And it’s not the only non-English-language film up for the top Oscar; so, too, is the Portuguese-language I’m Still Here. Until recently, such a scenario would have been unimaginable. Then came Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. This is the inside story of how that off-the-wall Korean film made history at the Oscars five years ago.

Hello, World

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founded in 1927, was originally called the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But for most of its history, it wasn’t very worldly — the vast majority of its members were based in L.A., New York or London,...

Hollywood loves a good controversy almost as much as it loves a reboot. In an era where AI seems to be taking over everything, from customer service to writing bad LinkedIn posts, there’s one thing it won’t be replacing anytime soon, real cinema. At least, not if Dakota Johnson has anything to say about it.

Dakota Johnson plays Cassandra Webb in Madame Web | Credits: Sony Pictures Releasing

In a recent interview, Johnson did not hold back on her thoughts about AI-generated movies and the increasing role of corporate decision-making in filmmaking. And let’s be real, she made some solid points. So, why exactly does she believe AI will never take over Hollywood? Buckle up, folks, because we’re diving in.

Hollywood by an algorithm? Dakota Johnson in a still from Madame Web | Credits: Sony Entertainment

According to Dakota Johnson, movies aren’t just numbers, data points, and...

As far as crime movies go, 1990's "Goodfellas" remains the gold standard as one of the best mob movies ever made. The film offered a more humanistic perspective into the world of organized crime through the eyes of aspiring mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). With this focus, "Goodfellas" offered a look at how the dangers and vices of crime impacted domestic lives, influencing the entire genre. Fortunately, for fans of "Goodfellas," there are plenty of crime movies to check out that share similar themes and sensibilities.

From sagas spanning generations of mobster families to classic rises to illicit power, there are countless crime movies like "Goodfellas." Many of these movies even share major cast members and the behind-the-scenes crew, bringing another level to these visible similarities. While each of these crime films stand proudly on their own, they also share DNA with Martin Scorsese's 1990 enduring crime story. 

Here are the 15 best movies like "Goodfellas.

Over the last few years, the Oscars have had their fair share of notable, eye-catching moments, from Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway's little oopsie when they inadvertently announced the wrong winner for Best Picture to "Parasite" dominating to Will Smith and the infamous slap. But while moments like "La La Land" briefly taking the Best Picture Oscar from "Moonlight" are as unforgettable as they are awkward, they only tiptoe so close to the precipice of absolute, wild insanity. It's not as if "La La Land" actually did steal an Oscar away, for example. And it's not as if a film or person has won an Oscar only to lose it. 

As unprecedented as that sounds, though, you only have to cast your gaze as far back as the 1969 Oscars ceremony to glimpse some truly jaw-dropping one-time events. For instance, that's the year when the Best Actress Oscar went to...

The Sopranos is a series that didn’t just break the mold but shattered it. The concept of a mob boss in therapy, carrying emotional baggage was bold and groundbreaking. It was unlike anything that we had seen on TV, and people even compared it to The Godfather.

A still from The Sopranos | HBO

But the show wouldn’t stand a chance in today’s landscape, and we’re not the ones with this claim, creator David Chase says so himself. So let’s understand why he believed that the mafia drama would never see the light of the day in this era, and what made it a prestigious show in the first place.

Why David Chase believes that The Sopranos couldn’t be made today David Chase | Late Night with Seth Meyers / YouTube

One can’t deny that the standard of what one considers to be a good TV...

Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther is hard to imagine with a White director at its helm. Apart from the controversies that it would have brought for Marvel Studios, it was only the right thing to do as Ryan Coogler had a personal connection to the subject matter. While Boseman agreed that a White director could’ve done the film, they probably wouldn’t have had the perspective that Coogler, a Black director, had.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther in Black Panther | Credits: Marvel Studios

Interestingly, even Coogler didn’t believe that he was qualified to do the film just because he was Black. Before filming Black Panther, Coogler visited Africa so that he could more accurately depict Wakanda in the film. Coogler is all set to make his threequel to the film, which would be his second film without Boseman who passed away in 2020.

Chadwick Boseman explained why...

Even a Hollywood dynasty gets tired of rewatching their iconic films.

“The Last Showgirl” director Gia Coppola, whose grandfather is iconic auteur Francis Ford Coppola, said during Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s “Dinner’s On Me” podcast that she had to eventually watch “The Godfather” with one of her pals since no one in her family was willing to revisit it with her.

Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, spurred two sequels, concluding with 1990’s “The Godfather: Part III.” Yet it took Gia Coppola a few decades to even get to see the first feature.

“I haven’t seen ‘Godfather’ until much later in my life because there was like a lot of pressure and intimidation,” Gia Coppola said, “but also all my family had sort of been a part of it and seen it, so no one really wanted to re watch that with me.

As streaming platforms continue to expand their libraries, Paramount+ has emerged as a powerhouse of entertainment, offering an impressive collection of both classics and contemporary hits. Whether you’re a film buff seeking Oscar-winning masterpieces or someone looking for an enjoyable weekend watch, the platform’s diverse catalog has something for everyone.

Paramount+ Logo | Credits: Paramount Global, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

We’ve combed through their extensive library to bring you 20 standout films that deserve a spot on your watchlist. From groundbreaking sci-fi adventures to timeless dramas, pulse-pounding thrillers to beloved comedies, these selections showcase the best of what Paramount+ has to offer right now.

1. The Godfather (1972)

Francis Ford Coppola‘s monumental crime drama isn’t just a movie; it’s a masterclass in filmmaking that has influenced generations of directors and storytellers. The film meticulously chronicles the Corleone family’s saga, with Al Pacino delivering a career-defining performance as Michael Corleone,...

The Sopranos may be one of the greatest television shows of all time but David Chase never had plans to make six seasons of a network TV show. The show, starring James Gandolfini, was initially planned as a movie. It was supposed to be a mob comedy centered around a mob boss and his problematic mother, much similar to Tony and Livia Soprano.

Lorraine Bracco with James Gandolfini in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

However, Chase was told that a mob comedy wasn’t exactly the crowd-puller in the theaters. But he was then approached for creating a TV series based on Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, which became a classic hit as a movie. Chase wasn’t ready to rehash the story for television, but he had another storyline in his mind.

David Chase’s The Sopranos happened after he turned down The Godfather TV show pitch Al Pacino as...

To say Berlin is a big city by European standards is an understatement — it has the largest population in Germany with 3.8 million residents and spans 23 miles.

Thus, you should never tackle Berlin without a plan, especially due to its unpredictable weather, which ranges from sunny and cold to overcast and cold to rainy and chilly in February.

THR presents six spots we love that provide a new layer of knowledge about the city’s troubled history, incredible art renaissance and natural beauty.

Outdoor: Street Art at Artpark Tegel

Neheimer Str. 4

Drawing influence from the U.S. cultural wave of the 1970s, street art became a way of life in Berlin during the 1980s and transformed into Germany’s graffiti capital. The city’s walls are its greatest gallery and tell its story, just as the history books do — plastered with stickers, graffiti and murals covering everything. Don’t miss Artpark Tegel,...

“Anora” director Sean Baker has won the DGA Award for Theatrical Feature, gaining significant Oscar momentum ahead of final voting.

With its surprising best picture win at the Critics Choice Awards — its only prize of the night — the $6 million dramedy, which claimed the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, has solidified itself as a major contender in an unpredictable awards season.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be able to do thing I knew I wanted to do since I was 5 years old,” Baker told the crowd Saturday at the conclusion of the 77th annual DGA Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton.

A wide-open year has unfolded with plenty of twists and turns, including campaign controversies and surprising Oscar snubs like DGA nominee Edward Berger and recent Critics Choice shocking victor Jon M. Chu for “Wicked.”

Legendary filmmaker Ang Lee, a two-time Oscar-winning director...

Before Martin Sheen became the iconic President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing, the show’s creators wanted to cast legendary actor Sidney Poitier. His potential casting would have been a groundbreaking moment for television, as it would have made him the first Black actor to portray a U.S. president on screen. However, despite the initial interest, the plans with Poitier didn’t happen.

Martin Sheen in a still from The West Wing | Credits: NBC

After considering other actors, the role of Bartlet ultimately went to Martin Sheen, whose performance became one of the most beloved aspects of the show.

How did Martin Sheen land the role of President Bartlet over Sidney Poitier?

When casting for the role of President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing, producers knew they needed someone who could bring both strength and relatability to the character. The role required an actor who could command...

This is the second in a series of short essays considering film restorations from the past year.Hollywood 90028.As the Palisades and Eaton Fires raged this month, photos and videos of the Hollywood sign in flames went viral. Before these images were identified as AI-generated misinformation, many took them as an appropriately bombastic symbol of a beleaguered industry. It’s true that the milk-and-honey capital of American cinema has curdled in recent years, accelerated in part by fallout from the pandemic, back-to-back labor strikes, the burst streaming bubble, and now the yet-to-be-tallied damage from the ongoing wildfires. It’s not the first time seismic changes have forced a reconfiguration of Hollywood, but there’s undoubtedly a sense of despair that’s unique to this moment.We look to history to parse where we are and where we’re going, which makes this past year’s restoration of Christina Hornisher’s...

The Academy Awards, or the Oscars, are one of the most prestigious honors in the film industry. While millions tune in each year to watch Hollywood’s biggest stars celebrate cinematic excellence, there are plenty of intriguing behind-the-scenes facts that even die-hard movie lovers might not know. Here are ten surprising pieces of Oscar facts that should blow your mind:

1. The Stolen Oscar Heist

In 2000, just days before the Academy Awards, a shipment of 55 Oscar statuettes was stolen from a loading dock in Los Angeles. The disappearance of the trophies sparked a major investigation involving local law enforcement and the FBI. After an extensive search, 52 of the stolen Oscars were found discarded in a dumpster behind a Koreatown grocery store by a man named Willie Fulgear, who later received a $50,000 reward for his discovery. However, three statuettes remain missing to this day, making them some of the most sought-after lost artifacts in Hollywood history.

A run of successful horror remakes abruptly ended in 2010, which spelled trouble for Platinum Dunes. Producer Brad Fuller explains what happened next.

For almost a decade, Platinum Dunes was one of the most successful independent production companies in Hollywood. Beginning with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003, which made over $100 million on a sub-$10m budget, the studio seemed to have hit on a magical formula: make genre movies to a price, attached to classic horror titles.

Texas Chainsaw was therefore followed by a string of other remakes, all based on films from the 70s and 80s: 2005’s The Amityville Horror was followed by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning in 2006; The Hitcher, Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street were all released between 2007 and 2009.

In the financial crisis era, audiences, it seemed, loved gory escapism. But in 2010, something strange happened: Platinum Dunes co-founder Brad Fuller noticed that his phone had stopped ringing.

“I’m basically a storyteller, just with the skin on a character’s face,” explained Mike Marino, the prosthetics maestro whose reputation is fast becoming as lauded as movie makeup legends Rick Baker and Stan Winston.

At this year’s Golden Globes, Marino was acknowledged not once, but twice by winning actors on stage: First by Colin Farrell, who is unrecognizable in HBO’s “The Penguin”; and then by Sebastian Stan, who won for his role in the dark indie comedy about disfigurement and self-acceptance, “A Different Man.”

“That was a huge compliment,” Marino told TheWrap of the shoutouts. “People were texting me that night — producers and actors and heroes of mine like Rick Baker — joking, ‘These are the Marino Globes.’ I’ve been doing this for my whole life and I’m just super thankful and fortunate to do what I do. Prosthetics work isn’t the crazy, booming business it once was,...

Robert De Niro won his second Oscar in 1981 for playing a boxing champ in Raging Bull. And now he has been chosen as the acting champ when it comes to Academy Awards.

His performance for the Martin Scorsese film from 1980 has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actor winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 male leading actors.

Anthony Hopkins finished second for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), with Marlon Brando following in third for The Godfather (1972). Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), and Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actor winners is Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona (1928). George Arliss in Disraeli (1929), Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul (1930), Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine (1942), and Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur...

Robert De Niro won his second Oscar in 1981 for playing a boxing champ in Raging Bull. And now he has been chosen as the champ of all actors.

His performance for the Martin Scorsese film from 1980 has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actor winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 male leading actors.

Anthony Hopkins ranked second for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), with Marlon Brando following in third for The Godfather (1972). Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), and Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actor winners is Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona (1928). Just above that film performance in the rankings are George Arliss in Disraeli (1929), Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul (1930), Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine...

When a film makes it all the way to the Academy Awards and takes home the top prize of best picture, a safe assumption to be made is that said movie is probably pretty good. Right? Well, that should be the case, but whatever reason, every once in a while a film sneaks through that just isn't up to snuff and leads future audiences to wonder exactly what the Academy was thinking.

That's the exception, not the rule, however. Most best picture winners are worthy of their title, even if some fans may quibble over what the actual best film of the year was. But even amongst this lofty category, there are films that stand out as the best of the best. If there was to be an Academy Awards: All Stars Edition, these 15 would be the ones that would make the cut. No matter how long ago they were released,...

An indisputable icon of the celluloid, revered for his bravura performances and infectious charisma, Al Pacino’s identity has become an inextricable element in the canon of American cinema. In a career spanning more than half a century, Pacino has cultivated an enviable track record, working with greats like Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, Martin Scorsese, and William Friedkin, to name a few of cinema’s wizards, and producing some of the most excellent performances ever put on screen.

Born Alfredo James Pacino, the South Bronx native started honing his acting chops in theatre before taking the leap into cinema with a small role in “Me, Natalie” (1969). He next surveyed the life of a person with a heroin addiction in “The Panic in Needle Park.” He would then go on to play one of the most popular characters in cinema in “The Godfather,” shooting him to superstardom – all at thirty-two,...

When you think of "Dirty Harry," you most likely think of the seminal 1971 action thriller and not of the four official "Dirty Harry" films that came in its wake (five if you count 2008's "Gran Torino"). The original film remains one of the best action movies, and arguably best films, of the 20th Century, somehow appealing to our base appetite for all-out action while also presenting a nuanced portrayal of its problematic protagonist. Is Harry Callahan merely a walking advertisement for the efficacy of police brutality, or someone hampered in his pursuit of justice by a society that cares more about bureaucracy than actually catching the bad guy? It's not entirely clear in Don Siegel's film, which is part of the reason why it endures to this day.

But for better or worse, Eastwood did make a heck of a lot of follow-ups to "Dirty Harry" — a controversial film...

George Lucas is best known for creating the Star Wars franchise, a multi-billion dollar global phenomenon that started in 1977. However, Lucas first made a name for himself with the 1973 coming-of-age film America Graffiti. It was produced by Francis Ford Coppola known for directing classics such as The Godfather.

Francis Ford Coppola produced George Lucas’ America Graffiti (Credits: Jake’s Takes | YouTube).

During an interview, Coppola shared his thoughts on working with Lucas and watching the latter shape his epic space opera saga. At the same time, Coppola revealed that one fan-favorite character from the original trilogy was based on his personality. Here is what Coppola had to say about Star Wars and the character Lucas modeled after him.

Francis Ford Coppola revealed how George Lucas based one Star Wars character on him Star Wars‘ Han Solo was modeled after Francis Ford Coppola (Credit: Lucasfilm).

Francis Ford Coppola directed classics such...

Elongated noses, like wrinkly pickles or deflated balloons, protrude from the faces of the comically offbeat characters in the zany, rambling and historically relevant animated documentary “Endless Cookie” from animator Seth Scriver, a white man, and his half-brother Peter, who is an Indigenous person from the Shamattawa First Nations in northern Canada. Pete’s memories, which illustrate the intricacies of Indigenous life in Canada, are the foundation of this personal family scrapbook of a film.

As Pete recalls events that happened to him, to people around him or to relatives, the intimate reminiscences meet the macro, touching on the impact of residential schools, land claims by greedy companies and the disproportionate incarceration of First Nations individuals. On occasion, he speaks a few words or phrases in the Cree language and addresses the spirituality of his people.

“Endless Cookie” simultaneously chronicles the making of the project itself, which took nine years to complete,...

From Vishal Bhardwaj’s Shakespearean trilogy Maqbool (based on Hamlet), Omkara (Othello) and Haider (Hamlet), Maqbool is the rawest, most honest and untarnished adaptation.

Maqbool transports us to a threshold of pain and redemption hitherto unknown to Hindi cinema. Because this is Shakespeare’s Macbeth trans-located to Mumbai’s underworld, and because Bhardwaj has selected a dream cast to portray his nightmarish world of crime and retribution, Maqbool takes its emotional content beyond any other film from the genre.

The writing on the wall is so clear, coherent, and redemptive that even Shakespeare would smile indulgently at the artistic liberties Bhardwaj has taken with the original text. Maqbool opens a whole new universe of passion- play, unexplored in the original text. Bhardwaj reveals the politics of lust and passion with a sure-handedness seldom witnessed in Hindi cinema.

Hence, the King from Shakespeare becomes a doddering, paunchy underworld kingpin, Abbaji (Pankaj Kapoor...

The Academy Awards have staged some iconic showdowns. Think of the tension around “La La Land” versus “Moonlight,” “12 Years a Slave” versus “Gravity” or “The Godfather” versus “Cabaret.” Each was a nail-biter that kept viewers on the edge of their seats. But what happens when six films — “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez” and “Wicked” — are all serious contenders for Hollywood’s most coveted prize? Enter “The Year Without the Frontrunner,” as Variety aptly dubbed it.

So, what is the pathway for each contender?

With 13 nominations, “Emilia Pérez” seems to have the logical edge (although recent controversies could derail that assertion). It has key guild nods and below-the-line Oscar mentions. But in this unpredictable year, historical trends are no guarantee. Major upcoming ceremonies like DGA, PGA and SAG may clarify the race — or make it even messier.

After winning big at the Golden Globes, “Emilia Pérez...

Through their company BoulderLight Pictures, producers J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules have been involved with several of the most surprising and original genre films of the last 10 years, from the wildly unpredictable horror flick “Barbarian” to the blood-drenched and relentlessly intense — yet grimly funny — thriller “Becky” and its sequel. Their latest movie, “Companion” (co-produced with Roy Lee and “Barbarian” director Zach Cregger), is their most entertaining yet, an unclassifiable blend of sci-fi, rom-com, horror, and action in which writer-director Drew Hancock sustains his tonal high-wire act from beginning to end.

Lifshitz and Margules have managed to sustain a career producing original movies that don’t always have obvious comps — something that can make their films tricky from a marketing standpoint — by keeping their budgets modest enough to allow their directors maximum creative freedom. “A lot of people say, ‘You’ve got to reign in filmmakers,'” Lifshitz told IndieWire. “It’s the opposite,...

2024's tour de force "The Brutalist" has finally opened wide in the new year, letting audiences see the movie that /Film's Chris Evangelista called an "overwhelming triumph." (The film earns every syllable of that praise and more.) "They don't make movies like this anymore" is trite criticism but "The Brutalist" truly feels like something pulled out of the New Hollywood era; a sprawling epic about American identity and assimilation, like "The Godfather" if Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone was a Jewish architect instead of a mobster. There's even an intermission, a practice long discarded in most modern films.

Adrien Brody leads "The Brutalist" as László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who comes to America. In the new world, László again finds work as an architect — specifically, in designing a custom community envisioned by an old-money industrialist (Guy Pearce). Brody, who has retreated from the A-list outside of his consistent work with Wes Anderson,...

Deewar, directed by The Yash Chopra, released 50 years ago. Starring Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan Deewaar was a critical and box-office hit and is considered one of the best, a classic, and an iconic film of Hindi cinema.

Here are seven unknown facts about Deewaar.

1. The first choice for Vijay’s role in Deewaar was not Amitabh Bachchan. It was Rajesh Khanna. Director Yash Chopra, who had directed Rajesh Khanna in his first home production Daag, was keen to reunite with Rajesh Khanna. However, writers Salim-Javed put their collective clout into action and insisted on Ab. And who said no to Salim-Javed those days?!

2. But here is the thing. Ab was doing another film with Yash Chopra at that time. And post Zanjeer, there was no way he could accommodate two Yash Chopra films into his clogged date diary. Luckily, better sense prevailed. Ab and Yc trained their guns on Deewaar.

Photographer Ron Galella rose to notoriety in the 60s over his obsession with Jackie Kennedy. But while he made a career out of his relentless pursuit of celebrities, his commitment to taking un-posed photos of major figures often landed him in a heap of trouble throughout his stint as a paparazzi.

Jackie Kennedy | Credit: Cecil Stoughton/ Cc-CC0/Wikimedia Commons

One such instance occurred when he crossed paths with Marlon Brando, and the encounter apparently left him with a broken jaw. But the incident did little to change his relentless tactics toward celebs.

Marlon Brando’s alleged payback left paparazzi with a broken jaw Marlon Brando in The Godfather | Credit: Paramount Pictures

In his memoir, Songs My Mother Taught Me, Marlon Brando confessed to having a brief affair with Jackie Kennedy in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Related “We were out of our minds on that film...

Before Sylvester Stallone became the tough-as-nails mob boss we know in Tulsa King, he was known for taking risks – some that didn’t land as expected. Enter one of his most bizarre flops, a film that Stallone now believes might’ve been a secret training ground for his role in Taylor Sheridan’s hit show.

Sylvester Stallone as Dwight “the General” Manfredi in Tulsa King | Credits: Paramount Network

In his quirky reflection, Stallone calls it the “prequel” to his Tulsa King character, a cheeky nod to how past mistakes can sometimes set the stage for future triumphs.

Sylvester Stallone calls Get Carter a “prequel” to Tulsa King despite its performance Sylvester Stallone’s Get Carter (2000) | Credits: MGM-British Studios

Sylvester Stallone claimed one of his major flops actually prepared him for his role as Dwight Manfredi in Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King. In a bizarre twist, he called his 2000 remake of...

The Academy Awards are considered the pinnacle of cinematic achievement. They are a celebration of films that have left an indelible mark on audiences and the industry alike. Every year, the Best Picture category incites intense debates about which movie truly deserves the honor.

Most of the time the Academy’s and the fans’ opinions align with winners such as The Godfather or Schindler’s List. Other times, however, their choices leave a bitter taste, as was the case with Crash and Shakespeare in Love.

Thandiwe Newton and Matt Dillon in Crash | Credits: Lionsgate

This year, Emilia Perez stands to make Oscar history, with its bold narrative and social commentary striking a chord with many. While its themes of representation and inclusion have garnered applause, questions linger whether it deserves the Oscar or not.

Were Sandra Bullock’s Crash and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Shakespeare in Love undeserving winners? Gwyneth Paltrow...

The 2025 Academy Awards race is certainly one of the most contentious and unpredictable in recent memory. While in previous years a frontrunner like “Oppenheimer” or “Everything Everywhere All At Once” announced itself as the clear favorite early on in the award cycle, there is no indication as to what will pull ahead before the ceremony in March. While occasionally there is a firm horse race between two films, such as “The Power of the Dog” and “Coda,” or “Green Book” and “Roma,” there are multiple films this cycle that could end up taking home the top prize.

As with every year, the Academy Awards nominate a variety of films that reflect the state of the industry, some of which are better than others. There are also a great number of niche films that sadly were ignored by the Oscars entirely, such as “I Saw The TV Glow,” “Ghostlight,” “All We Imagine As Light,...

Seth MacFarlane may not care for The Godfather, but he insists that he doesn’t know what the hell Peter Griffin was talking about.

On May 14, 2006, a very special Family Guy episode aired that would change the way Letterboxd users and Film Twitter power players would talk about prestige cinema for years — once New Zealand invented Letterboxd and Twitter became more than just Jack Dorsey posting into the void by himself, of course. In “The Griffin Family History,” Peter, Meg, Lois, Stewie and Brian spend what they believe to be their last moments alive before drowning in the family’s panic room arguing about Francis Ford Coppola’s magnum opus, the 1972 mob epic The Godfather, and, as the water rises, Peter explains his distaste for the film in the most confusing terms possible.

Flash forward to 2025, and Family Guy star and creator MacFarlane is apparently fed up with film buffs using his line,...

Johnny Depp has done a slew of versatile roles in his long career, be it more mature films like Donnie Brasco, or children’s fantasy features like Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, whenever it came to what he was filming, Johnny Depp was very aware of what he was getting into.

Johnny Depp || Credit: Disney

Mafia films have been a part of Hollywood prestige cinema ever since the days of The Goodfellas and The Godfather trilogy. Needless to say, Johnny Depp would also find himself in a Mafia film, but it would do one thing that films like The Godfather failed to do so horribly.

Johnny Depp did not want to romanticize the Mafia Johnny Depp || Credit: Disney

Johnny Depp, in an interview, revealed that he was pretty hell-bent on not wanting to do a Mafia film that glorifies that way of life. He...

Social media is inundated with Family Guy memes, and a particular one involving The Godfather resurfaces occasionally.

Seth MacFarlane, creator and star of the long-running animated series, recently took to social media to explain the origins of the “it insists upon itself” meme that fans quote.

“Since this has been trending, here’s a fun fact,” MacFarlane shared on X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter. “‘It insists upon itself’ was a criticism my college film history professor used to explain why he didn’t think The Sound of Music was a great film. First-rate teacher, but I never quite followed that one.”

In Season 4, Episode 27, titled “Untitled Griffin Family History,” Peter Griffin shares with his family that he did not care for The Godfather.

“How can you even say that, Dad?” Peter’s son Chris asks.

Lois adds, “Peter, it’s like the perfect movie.”

“And this is what everyone always says,...

Joker: Folie à Deux leads the Razzie Awards noms, which recognize the worst movies and performances of the year, with a total of seven mentions.

Borderlands, Madame Web, Megalopolis and Reagan followed with six noms apiece, it was announced Tuesday. Unfrosted landed with four noms, while The Crow nabbed two noms.

Among the actors receiving mentions were Joaquin Phoenix, Cate Blanchett, Lady Gaga and Jon Voight, one of President Donald Trump’s newly appointed “Ambassadors to Hollywood,” who was nominated for his performances in a “near record” four films in one year.

Organizers joked that the worst picture nominees will compete for a “$4.97 gold spray-painted” statuette and shared their thoughts on each of the films in contention (see below).

Nominees were chosen via emailed ballots to 1,202 Razzie members (movie buffs, film critics and journalists) from 49 states and about two dozen foreign countries who chose five top contenders in each of nine categories.

Citizen Kane. The Godfather. Once Upon A Time In America. There Will Be Blood. Towering monuments of moviemaking, all — and all namechecked in notices when Brady Corbet’s third picture, The Brutalist, won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival. Is it possible for any modern movie, even an American epic of these proportions (and we don’t just mean the 215-minute running time), to stand firm in the shadows of such superstructures?

The Brutalist gives it a damn good go. An austere, novelistic, self-consciously important film that unfurls in a measured sprawl, it nonetheless exerts an iron grip. Yes, it’s shot in luxurious VistaVision and divided into chapters and features a 15-minute intermission. And sure, it mulls on the weighty themes of Jewish identity, immigration, privilege, culture-versus-commerce and the thin lines between inspiration and insanity, ambition and crushing egotism. But homework it ain’t.

While The Godfather Part II proved itself to be just as critically successful as its predecessor, it surprisingly didn't do as well at the box office. Inspired by the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, The Godfather trilogy depicted the lives of the Corleone mafia family and their involvement in organized crime across the world. The first installment, The Godfather, looks at the family's patriarch, Vito Corleone, and his complicated life with his family and criminal activities. The two sequels explore Michael Corleone's rise to power and attempts to protect his family from his crimes.

Since the movies' release, The Godfather franchise has been ranked as one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time, with the first two movies being listed as some of the most successful movies ever made. The Godfather's cast includes Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro, who have all received Oscar nominations for their...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Few filmmakers had a better 1970s than Sidney Lumet. While he was more prolific than most of the decade's top directors, knocking out 11 movies over a 10-year span, and did find time to helm one of the worst musicals in motion picture history (a badly bungled adaptation of "The Wiz"), when Lumet got ahold of the right material, he made classics like "Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," and "Network."

There isn't a more electric movie in Lumet's oeuvre than "Dog Day Afternoon." Based on a true story, the 1975 critical and commercial hit centers on a bank robbery in Brooklyn carried out by Sonny Wortzik, an amateur crook desperate to pay for his lover's gender-affirming surgery. When the heist quickly goes south, Sonny and his associates find themselves stuck holding hostages while cops swarm the building. The defiant Sonny scrambles to negotiate...

A special screening was held on January 15th to celebrate Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya. The director along with composer Vishal Bhardwaj, Aditya Kashyap as well as Manoj Bajpayee and Urmila Matondkar among others came together to celebrate both its release 27 years ago and that it once again is playing on the big screen.

After the screening, Ram Gopal Varma spoke with Subhash K Jha in an open and reflective conversation to share his experience of seeing the film once again.

What was the experience like?

By the time Satya was rolling to an end, while watching it two days back for the first time after more than twenty-five years, I started choking and tears were rolling down my cheeks and I didn’t even care if anyone would see. The tears came from somewhere deep inside me not just for the film, but it was for everything that had...

The Best Picture race at the 2025 Oscars is coming into focus. The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, were created by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929, and celebrate the artistic achievement of each year's films in a variety of categories including acting, directing, editing, costume design, sound design, and more. The Oscar that is perhaps the most prestigious is the Best Picture award, which celebrates what Academy voters have deemed to be the best film of the year.

Over the years, there have been a wide variety of Best Picture winners, so far running from 1927's Wings, a silent film starring Clara Bow, through 2023's Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's biopic-thriller of J. Robert Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy. Some winners are minted classics such as 1942's Casablanca, 1964's The Sound of Music, 1971's The Godfather, and 1992's Schindler's List. However, there are also some winners that...

Mark your calendars, Oscars fans, because the 97th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 2, 2025 on ABC. The annual star-studded ceremony will honor movies released in theaters within the 2024 calendar year of eligibility. AMPAS members will vote on the Oscar winners in 23 categories, including Best Adapted Screenplay. But who will win? Here at Gold Derby, thousands of users have been making and updating their 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay, so let’s take a look at all of the top contenders in our photo gallery below.

These 25 Best Adapted Screenplay hopefuls are listed in order of their racetrack odds, which are derived from the combined forecasts of four unique groups: experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round for this website, top 24 users who had the best accuracy scores last year, and the mass of users who make up our biggest predictions bloc.

The...

Sofia Coppola got a lot of negative press for her performance as Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III, but she’d previously played a small role (literally) in the first movie, too. When Francis Ford Coppola cast his daughter to play one of the lead roles in the final chapter of The Godfather trilogy, he was criticized for a nepotistic bias. Upon the movie’s release in 1990, critics lambasted Sofia Coppola’s work, with some even claiming that her supposedly wooden acting ruined the film.

But not everyone realizes that this wasn’t Sofia Coppola’s first appearance in The Godfather cast. It was her first time playing a major character with speaking lines, but it wasn’t her first time playing a member of the Corleone family in her father’s iconic trilogy. 18 years before she starred in The Godfather Part III, she had appeared alongside Al Pacino...

Andy Garcia's Vincent Mancini took over from Michael in The Godfather Part III, but a completely different character might have proved a more fitting replacement. Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 gangster classic chronicled the handover of power from Vito Corleone to his son Michael. The story came full circle 18 years later when Michael himself passed the reins over in The Godfather Part III. His eventual successor was Sonny's illegitimate child, Vincent, who had been serving the Corleone family under Joey Zaza but was looking for more responsibility and influence.

Upon proving himself to Michael, Vincent became next in line as the Corleone family don, and the entire Godfather saga concluded with Garcia's newly-crowned protagonist promising to usher in a new era of prosperity for his inherited empire. While Vincent represented a fascinating addition to The Godfather's cast, he was far from the obvious choice to replace Al Pacino's Michael.

In his 30-year career as an actor Amrish Puri did over 200 films. In his early years, most of the work he did was either quality-oriented work for the avant-garde directors Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani or outright kitsch, where he used his powerful voice and screen presence to accentuate the cinematic definitions of evil. Puri’s truly fertile phase as Bollywood’s most dependable character-actor, or actor of character, began in 1992. Here’s a checklist of his best films.

Nishant (1975):Playing the eldest brother in a family of zaalim(cruel) zamindars who abduct and rape a schoolteacher’s wife, Amrish Puri struck a note of immediate and everlasting terror in viewers’ hearts. Though the film had other terrific actors it was Puri who dominated the show in every way possible. The role had apparently been written for the Bengali actor Utpal Dutt, who excelled at playing obdurate disciplinarians. Puri, too,...

General Hospital (Gh) spoilers reveal that Chad Duell has left his role as Michael Corinthos on the ABC soap.

Duell recently appeared on Maurice Benard’s (Sonny Corinthos) podcast, State of Mind, where they entertained fans with talk of “Mini Maurice.” Here’s what to know!

General Hospital Spoilers – Maurice Benard Hosts State of Mind

Fans noticed Duell holding a doll which he introduced as Mini Maurice. According to Duell he “made this myself, actually, about five, six years back.”

“You know, we do scenes together and we were working heavy together, I kind of wanted to have somebody I can run lines with and just have your kind of presence. And also, it was a situation like a Buddha’s belly type thing.

Just for a good luck thing, I just go between the shirt, rub the nip. It’s a good luck kind of charm for me, especially...

Dorothy Sing Zhang studied Fine Arts at the University College of London, Slade, and pursued film studies at Ecole de Leth (Denmark) with Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth. In 2021, she directed the documentary “BàBà” (Festival du Nouveau Cinéma). In addition to her film work, she also released the monograph Like Someone Alive. “Masterpiece Mommy“, her latest short premiered in Toronto this year and stars Chinese singer-songwriter Leah Dou.

Ada is distributed by Dogme23.

More info on the image below

The film begins with a doctor informing her patient of the results of her Ct scan, with the phrase “I have some news, good and bad” looming quite heavily from the get go of the short. Meanwhile, the images, in slow motion for the most part, show a sequence of coins falling from a bag. The next scene is more ‘grounded’, showing a waiting room with Justine and her mother...

This claim, included in Universal’s thorough and impressive list of box office achievements for 2024, is technically true: “Domestically ‘Wicked‘ is now … the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all-time at the domestic office ahead of ‘Grease’ ($188.62M).”

Also technically true is that “The Grinch” is bigger than “Gone with the Wind,” “Sing” is bigger than “Jaws,” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is bigger than “The Godfather.” Also, the 1977 first “Star Wars” is only the third biggest success of that franchise.

Presenting grosses without adjusting skews the real picture of how they compare. It is a prime case of film history erasure, an all-too common occurrence these days. The somewhat (but not impossible in most cases) effort to sort out the true success of films through history starts with adjusting box office takes to current ticket prices. Normally, that is fairly simple, since we know the costs by year and can do the math.